Greenwich Village has earned a reputation as a magnet for bohemians and intellectuals as it was once home to writers Henry James and Edgar Allan Poe, artist Jackson Pollack, and radical thinker Upton Sinclair. It is now coveted for its beautiful historic brownstones and its leaf-lined streets.
Feel the infectious energy of the Village as you walk under the iconic arch to enter Washington Square Park. You are surrounded by the students, professors, and buildings of New York University—one of the largest landowners in the city—as well as the many families that call Greenwich Village home.
Stroll down MacDougal Street, lined with restaurants, to Bleecker to see Café Wha?, Café Society—the city's first racially integrated nightclub—and other small vivacious haunts where Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Janis Joplin played, drank, and caused a ruckus in the '60s. Spot hideaways where Dylan Thomas and Lenny Bruce performed and hear how the Beat Generation flourished amid small theatre groups.
Next, head to Sheridan Square and the still-operating Stonewall Inn, a bar where the gay rights movement was born when riots erupted in 1969. Your guide leads you through the charming streets of the West Village to rare sites like the smallest private property in the city and shares strange-but-true anecdotes. Throughout the tour, you are sure to see places featured in many films as well as TV's Sex and the City and Friends.